Overview

3D Dot Game Heroes takes a lot from the original Legend of Zelda game.

3D Dot Game Heroes is a PS3-exclusive single player RPG developed by Silicon Studio and From Software published by Atlus in North America and South Peak Interactive in Europe . It was released in Japan in November of 2009. A message was posted on Sony's Twitter feed announcing their intention of bringing this title to North America on May 11, 2010.

Takehiko Terada, President and CEO of Silicon Studio, indicated in an interview that the game was originally designed to show off their middleware to partners.

The game features a unique 3D pixel art style, a character editor, and over 100 loading screens that pay homage to classic games.

Story

A part of Dotnia.

The Kingdom of Dotnia was a traditional 2D land, like any other typical RPG kingdom. One day, the King desired to reshape the land to attract more visitors, and using special technology, attempted to reshape the land into 3D - but something goes wrong.

The game's plot also involves a legendary swordsman who locked away an ancient demon using the power of six magic orbs.

Gameplay

3D Dot Game Heroes plays remarkably like The Legend Of Zelda. The player's character is equipped with a sword and will gradually discover various items over the course of the game, including bombs, a bow and arrow, a boomerang, and various types of magic.

If the player has a full life bar (represented by apples), the sword gains additional characteristics, such as extreme length, width, or the ability to shoot beam projectiles. Multiple swords are available, and players are able to visit a blacksmith to upgrade their swords.

While players will mostly be searching for the main dungeons to find the magic orbs, villagers may provide side quests and other distractions.

Difficulty

From Software has indicated that they "worked hard to make sure the normal difficulty would be adequately challenging for the average gamer." But there are several alternate modes for those looking for more of a challenge.

In Spelunker Mode, players will die with one hit from any enemy. It is intended for gamers who "miss those 8-bit days of gaming when things were difficult beyond all comprehension".

In FROM Mode, enemies are more abundant and difficult. It is intended for gamers "looking for an extreme challenge".

The game also features New Game Plus, which allows players to carry over their gold and weapon upgrades.

Mini Games

The game features at least three mini-games, which offer additional rewards and bonuses to players who master them:

Characters & Character Editor

The original Japanese release of 3D Dot Game Heroes featured three character templates: Frum, Sonya, and Altus.

The US release features many more templates (including cameos from the Tenchu series), some of which were released in Japan as DLC. Regardless of their looks, each "character" falls into one of the base classes (Hero, Royal, Scholar).

Name

Class

Description

FRUM

Hero

Descendant of a hero. High HP and swordplay.

SONYA

Hero

Descendant of a hero. High HP and magic.

ALTUS

Royal

Prince of Dottano. A well-balanced fighter.

MERI

Royal

Princess of Dottano. A well-balanced caster.

SEGALL

Scholar

A travelling scholar. A swashbuckling mage.

REQUIS

Scholar

A travelling scholar. High magical aptitude.

Dwarf

Hero

A dwarf who loves his axe too much to actually swing it.

Samurai

Hero

A samurai who stays in his armor to be ever ready for battle.

Assassin

Royal

A super ninja who has never failed a mission.

Dragon

Hero

This dragon is too young to breathe fire or fly.

Santa

Royal

In the off-season, Santa travels! No reindeer on this journey, though.

This black dragon was peaceful until the Dark Orb awoke his true self.

Striker

Royal

This soccer star plays to win, even if he's out of his league!

Shippu

Royal

A ninja who follows his own path. His will is unbreakable.

The character editor can edit an existing template, or players can design their character from scratch. Six "frames" can be designed in a 3D editor, including "Stand", "Walk1", "Walk2", "Hurray", "Attack1", and "Attack2". Saved characters can be exported to a USB stick and shared online.

In September 2010, Altus announced that Sackboy from LittleBigPlanet will be available as a playable character.

Equipment & Upgrades

3D Dot Game Heroes includes 24 different swords. Players will receive the Sword at the start of the game and the Ancient Sword during the first quest of the game; the remaining swords can be found through completing side quests, exploring the map, trading White Blocks to King Block, or by performing well in mini-games.

Most swords can be upgraded by visiting the blacksmith in the village of Raejack. Each sword is has a base rating as well as a maximum in the following seven attributes:

Length: how far the sword extends. Values can range from Lv 0 to Lv 20.

Width: how wide the sword strikes. Values can range from Lv 0 to Lv 20.

Strength: amount of damage the sword does per strike. Values can range from Lv 1 to Lv 20.

Spin: whether or not the player can spin with the sword extended. Values can range from Lv 0 (no spin) to Lv 1 (can spin).

Beam: swords with Beam attributes can shoot a projectile when swung with full health. Values can range from Lv 0 (does not fire) to Lv 3.

Pierce: whether or not the sword will pass through obstacles. Values can range from Lv 0 (no pierce) to Lv 1 (does pierce).

Special: some swords carry additional special abilities. Values can range from Lv 0 to Lv 5.

In addition to the per-attribute maximum ratings, each sword has a Potential value. Potential is the maximum amount of money that players are allowed to spend upgrading it, preventing a player from maxing out all the statistics for any given sword. For example, should a player upgrade the Ancient Sword to the maximum strength, they will not have enough potential left over to add Pierce. (In the event of upgrade regret, swords can be reset back to their base statistics at the blacksmith if necessary.)

Patch 1.01 Controversy

3D Dot Sackboy!

On September 23, 2010, Atlus U.S.A. released a patch for the North American version of the game, adding 50 player- and staff-created characters (most notably, a Sackboy character from Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet franchise), bug fixes while also slightly adapting finish times requirements for the Dash Circuit races and adding the ability to carry over certain swords into a New Game+ playthrough.

Because Atlus U.S.A. does not publish its retail games outside the US, the game's European publisher, Southpeak Interactive, would have had to issue the patch for EU gamers. However, due to unknown reasons, SouthPeak never released the patch for the EU version, causing strong discontent among the fanbase since the changes made to improve the game were rather significant for players attempting playthroughs on harder difficulties or trying to get all Trophies.